feature
football medicine & performance
THE INTRODUCTION OF TEMPORARY CONCUSSION SUBSTITUTIONS IN DISABILITY FOOTBALL: ARE WE ‘HEADED’ IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION? FEATURE / OH AHMED1,2,3, M.FULCHER1,4, D.MALONE1, C.MIRA Y LOPEZ1,5, M.E. RHO1,6, A.STROJNA1,7 1. IFCPF Medical Committee, International Federation of CP Football 2. Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, England 3. The FA Centre for Disability Football Research, St Georges Park, Burton-Upon-Trent, England 4. Axis Sports Medicine Specialists, Auckland, New Zealand. New Zealand Football, Auckland, New Zealand 5. New Being News, Brazil 6. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, United States of America 7. Federazione Italiana Sport Paralimpici e Sperimentali, Rome, Italy
A need for action in Cerebral Palsy football Cerebral Palsy (CP) football is one of many adapted formats of football which permit individuals with a wide range of disabilities to participate (FIFA Medical Network, 2019), including athletes with CP or an acquired brain injury. Although several commentary pieces related to concussion in disability sport have been published (Kissick & Webborn 2018, West et al. 2017), at present there are limited data-driven studies on concussion in disability football. The study of Weiler et al. (2018) demonstrated that footballers with a disability (including CP footballers) have baseline concussion values that are significantly different to their mainstream peers and recommended that extra consideration needs to be given when interpreting post-concussion assessments with disability footballers. In addition, the work of Griffin et al. (2017) highlighted that clinicians working within CP football
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expressed some difficulty in performing cognitive assessments within this population. In December 2019, the International Federation of Cerebral Palsy Football (IFCPF) announced the introduction of a “Temporary Concussion Substitution” rule change (IFCPF, 2019a). This followed a consultation process, with input from a CP footballer representative (Harry Baker) and a professional referee with experience of CP Football (Keith Stroud). In doing so, this made CP Football the first format of football to introduce such changes. Despite other contact sports (most notably rugby) permitting teams to substitute players who are suspected of having sustained a concussion for more detailed assessment, football has yet to introduce such a temporary concussion substitution rule. Recent news releases however suggest that 2020 may be the year when temporary
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